June 2, 2026
By Evan Lepler
“Seven On The Line” is part two of The Tuesday Toss, highlighting seven more important storylines around the UFA. Read part one here.
1. Minnesota’s Pristine Offensive Performance At Breese Stevens Field
Nearly eight years ago, the Wind Chill watched their border “rival” Madison capture the UFA title. Of course, the word rival is in quotes in the previous sentence because up to that point, Minnesota had gone just 2-17 against the Radicals in the six seasons spanning from 2013 to 2018.
But in 2019, the series flipped. Minnesota took two out of three over Madison that summer and has only lost once against the Radicals since the pandemic. Overall, after going 2-17 against Madison in the first 19 meetings, the Wind Chill are 17-2 against the Radicals in the last 19 meetings.
On Sunday evening, at a stadium where the Wind Chill were once 0-10, Minnesota evened up the all-time series with a 23-20 triumph, a victory that doubled as arguably the franchise’s finest offense performance in the team’s 13-season history. In the same way they flipped the rivalry against the Radicals, the Wind Chill suddenly looked like a team that was not just built around getting long strings of breaks, but instead anchored by its stable, consistent, and dare I say, explosive offense.
“Our offense has cashed numerous checks written by our D-line over the years,” said Minnesota Captain Bryan Vohnoutka. “On a night where blocks and turns were hard to come by, it felt good to hold up our end. I’m looking forward to putting both of those pieces together.”
In tranquil conditions—"The least wind I’ve ever experienced at Breese Stevens Field," said Vohnoutka—the Wind Chill had just eight turnovers on the evening. In addition, they went 13-for-13 in the red zone and completed 9-of-10 hucks.
Gordon Larson led the way with 61 completions, six assists, 584 total yards, and only one throwaway, while Nate De Morgan, in his Wind Chill debut, added five assists, four goals, and 421 total yards. Beyond the numbers, De Morgan’s presence, with his unique skillset and aggressive playmaking mindset, seemed to change the shape of the Minnesota attack.
“I wasn’t surprised to see [De Morgan] immediately assert himself,” said Wind Chill Coach Ben Feldman. “He adds a different dimension for us, regardless of what he’s throwing or not throwing. The group was willing to cut differently for him.”
To their credit, the Radicals only had 12 turnovers, their fewest in a game since July 12, 2024, and were quite competitive in this battle between teams that entered the evening unbeaten. But a couple costly red zone miscues really hurt Madison’s chances to spring the upset.
Even in defeat, Nico Ranabhat went 50-for-50 and churned for 600 total yards, while Pieran Robert led the Rads with eight goals and two assists.
Madison won’t see Minnesota again until the last day of the regular season, when the teams collide on July 19 in St. Paul.
“It’s never easy to win in Breese Stevens, and I think the Madison Radicals’ roster is one that’s gonna continue to compete at a really high-level the rest of the way. If a few things go differently in that game, we might have seen overtime. We have to continue to improve and get better, as I’m sure we’re going to see them again when it counts.”
2. Flyers Handle The Hustle For Second Straight Saturday, Improve To 2-1 In Season Series
With two convincing victories over Hustle the past two Saturdays, the Carolina Flyers have redefined the 2026 trajectories both for them and their number one rival. Where the Flyers are looking very much like a legitimate championship contender, the Hustle are seemingly in danger of missing the playoffs entirely.
After an 18-12 win at home in Week 5, the Flyers handed Atlanta a 26-21 setback on the Hustle’s home field in Week 6, and suddenly the first game of the series, a thrilling Week 4 double overtime victory for the Hustle back on May 16, feels little more than a distant footnote.
“We got some valuable data points from that first game,” said Carolina Head Coach Michael Avila. “And being able to make adjustments and execute on those adjustments is really exciting to see.”
While Carolina improved to 5-1 and sit side-by-side with 5-0 Austin atop the South, the Hustle fell to 3-4. It’s the first time Atlanta’s lost more than three games in a UFA regular season since going 8-4 in 2022.
Here’s the predicament for the Hustle: they’ll presumably beat Houston and Vegas comfortably in their next two home games, but after that, Atlanta still has challenges against Carolina, Austin, and DC. Even if the Hustle can get hot and sweep those three games, there’s still no guarantee the Flyers, Sol, and Growlers fall below four losses.
Remember, San Diego has the tiebreaker against Atlanta having won the only regular season meeting with the Hustle, and if the Growlers can just split their upcoming pair of games against Austin, they would be favored in all their other remaining games, making an 8-4 record quite likely, and that would probably doom the Hustle’s chances to defend their division crown in the postseason.
But back to Saturday’s five-goal win for the Flyers, Jacob Fairfax was easily the number one star, producing five assists, four goals, two blocks, and 578 total yards. Carolina’s D-line, collectively, deserves a mention too for its historically efficient performance, as the Flyers converted all 12 of their break chances, setting a new UFA record for the most breaks ever with a 100 percent D-line conversion rate.
Considering that the Flyers’ D-line also transformed 50 percent of their break chances into scores in the previous two meetings against the Hustle, team leaders were especially pleased to see the improvement in the squad’s D-line counterattack. Carolina’s lead grew as wide as nine at 19-11 before the Hustle rallied to make the final score look a bit more respectable, but make no mistake, this five-goal result felt like another pretty lopsided victory for the Flyers.
“We didn’t warm up well for the game, and we came out flat,” said Hustle Captain Sean Connole. “We had some painful drops. We made some poor throwing decisions [...] We occasionally did well on executing the game plan, but lacked consistency for the duration of the game.”
As the Flyers get ready for another fun road test at DC, the Hustle have a week off to stew about their current circumstances. Connole didn’t mince words when explaining what Atlanta needs to do in the weeks ahead.
“We have to win the rest of our games,” Connole said. “Not an easy task, but when we put the pieces together, we can beat any team in the league.”
That may be true, but the pieces have been seemingly misplaced so far this season, and even if the Hustle can get things sorted out, that still might not be enough.
3. Oakland Overpowers San Diego On The Way To 6-0
With all due respect to Carolina, Austin, Boston, New York, Minnesota, and every other potential contender, I’ve got the Oakland Spiders as the team to beat atop the UFA hierarchy as the calendar flips to June. Even after their streak of double-digit victories expired with just a six-goal win on Saturday against San Diego, the team’s season-long goal-differential still sits at plus-70, best in the league through six weeks.
“We’re off to a strong start, but are aware that’s all it is [...] a start,” said Daniel Ritthaler, who’s emerged as an MVP candidate after shifting to O-line and leading the league with 23 goals so far this season. “None of our season-long goals can be accomplished at the midseason mark, and we know we have to continue to push.”
Ritthaler enjoyed his best game of the season against the Growlers on Saturday, leading the way with six goals, four assists, two blocks, and no turns. While San Diego only trailed by one early in the second quarter, a mid-period spurt boosted the Spiders’ advantage to four, and the lead grew as wide as six in Oakland’s 23-17 win.
“It felt like we got a few timely upwind breaks in the first half that gave us a small edge,” said Ritthaler. “There were a couple other long points where we got big breaks using the full depth of our D-line that seemed to tilt the game a bit. Guys like Max Williams, Dylan Burns, and Max Zwerin, in what I think was his debut, did well on strong matchups and provided an offensive boost for us on the turn all game. “
The Growlers dipped to 2-3 ahead of this Friday’s huge home game against Austin.
“I thought we improved on a few things between game one and two [against the Spiders], but still have a long way to go,” said San Diego Co-Head Coach Kevin Stuart. “Good thing is that we have time to fix those issues [...] Austin is our focus now, and it’s a quick turnaround to get ready for them on Friday.”
After going 2-0 against the Growlers, the Spiders now shift their focus to Colorado, whom they play in three of their final six games, including this Saturday.
“We’re definitely not satisfied with where we’re at and know there are plenty of things for us to work on,” said Oakland’s Walker Frankenberg. “Regardless of the results we’ve been posting, we all hold each other to an incredibly high standard, one that we’re still working towards and are continually trying to exceed.”
4. Double Overtime Drama In The Commonwealth Cup
In the final seconds of overtime, it looked like Philly had its first lead and first win of the season. Sam Davies skied for an amazing catch of Scott Heyman’s 60-yard prayer, seemingly serving as the knockout punch as time expired.
But moments later, everyone realized that Philadelphia had called timeout before Heyman’s transition launch. With new life, Pittsburgh made it count, and the Thunderbirds’ Will Hoffenkamp got the block at the buzzer, taking the 7th ever Commonwealth Cup into double overtime for the first time.
The Thunderbirds received on universe point, and after an extended red-zone possession where another potential game-changing block by Davies got whistled for a foul—for the record, it was absolutely the right call—eventually, Hoffenkamp connected with Ryan Ward for Pittsburgh’s cathartic game-winning goal.
“The last point really felt like it was back to basics for us,” said Hoffenkamp. “We’ve been pushing trust in our teammates and the system this year and saw in this game how straying from that led to a string of Philly breaks. I just felt an immense amount of trust on the field for that last point. No one was trying to make a wild play or force anything up. We moved the disc quickly, cut, and cleared for our teammates and were able to wait for the right moment to take the final shot.”
And it turned out the final throw went to a pretty unlikely receiver, as the 22-year-old Ryan Ward’s game-winning grab also represented his first ever UFA goal.
“I feel very blessed to have been a part of it,” said Ward. “I was pretty surprised to hear my name called for the double OT line. The coaches had started to kind of soft launch putting me on O-line towards the end of the game. It was something completely unexpected and I’m really grateful for our Head Coach [David] Berg’s trust in me.”
Heyman led the Phoenix with almost 900 total yards, while Ezra Beidler-Shenk, making his UFA debut, registered an exceptionally rare 400/400 game, with 443 throwing yards and 403 receiving yards. But it was Hoffenkamp’s 75th and final throw of the night that won it for Pittsburgh and fell Philly to 0-4.
“I had no idea that that was Ward’s first goal of the season, but it’s a fitting situation for the role he’s had with us thus far,” said Hoffenkamp. “He’s a new face and initially showed up as one of those guys that just plays super hard and runs the system to a T. Given that he’s been playing mostly D for us thus far, it was new seeing him out there with the O group, but I think it’s a testament to how easily he can slot in and just play with anyone on the team. We had the disc outside the end zone for a good bit there before the final shot and naturally have some folks who were around the disc and front of the stack for a lot of it, but Ward does a great job of holding space intentionally and waiting for his chance to attack. In those moments, it’s so easy to be jump and want to run through the front cone at any chance you get, and I’m so proud of our and his discipline to wait for the right moment and make it really easy for us.”
With the win, the Thunderbirds claimed the Commonwealth Cup for the first time since 2021, as Philly had prevailed in the three most recent interdivisional matchups against Pittsburgh prior to Saturday’s festivities.
5. Toronto And Montreal Miss Opportunities Against DC In Week 6
Part I of the Tuesday Toss chronicled DC’s doubleheader sweep over Toronto and Montreal from the Breeze’s perspective. Meanwhile, Boston also survived an ugly Sunday matinee against the Rush, as the reigning champs improved to 5-0 with a low-scoring 18-16 victory at Varsity Stadium. Jeff Babbitt had four blocks to cross over 200 all-time, and the Glory prevailed despite only converting 6-of-18 break chances. Beyond Boston eking out the road win, my main thought on all three of these games north of the border was basically this: damn, Toronto and Montreal both blew it; in great position to register some marquee results, they were unable to execute when it counted most and it was there for the taking.
“Definitely a mix of pride for going toe-to-toe with the reigning champs, and a feeling of missed opportunity to land big punches in the third when we had red-zone chances to go up two with upwind breaks,” said Toronto Coach Jamie Millage. “Our team has grown a lot over the years, and our next step forward is to simply expect to put games like this one away as we get into the second half.”
The Royal had to feel similarly after yet another painful loss against the Breeze on Saturday.
“It’s a frustrating result because we felt we controlled large stretches of the game and put ourselves in a position to win,” said Montreal Coach Jean-Levy Champagne. “Unfortunately, in the fourth quarter, we became less efficient with the disc, gave away a few possessions that we normally expect to keep, and DC made us pay for those errors. Against a quality team like the Breeze, those momentum swings can change a game quickly.”
Montreal’s Christophe Tremblay-Joncas was even more blunt.
“Losing 0-6 in the fourth quarter is pretty embarrassing,” said Tremblay-Joncas. “We were just straight up bad, and they wanted the game more.”
While the Royal’s 1-6 record makes it virtually impossible to mount a late-season push to the playoffs, the Rush still sit at 3-3, a game and a half behind the 5-2 Breeze in the East. Toronto will likely need some help from interdivisional opponents to hand Boston, New York, or DC some additional losses, but in order for that to potentially be relevant, the Rush need to handle their business against their upcoming opponents.
Interestingly, Toronto will play four of its final six games against teams outside the East.
“As my assistant coach Travy [Puckrin] likes to point out, we’ve assembled a bunch of guys who hate losing,” said Millage. “We love playing frisbee though, and we’re excited to test ourselves against each and every opponent left on the schedule. Come July 18th, hopefully there’s enough W’s to earn us some more.”
6. Sol Stay Unbeaten, Preventing A Seattle Sweep In Texas
After cruising past Houston 24-13 on Saturday, the Seattle Cascades held a 14-11 lead late in the second quarter on Sunday in Austin. But like Toronto and Montreal before them, Seattle also let a three-goal lead evaporate quickly, and the Sol outscored the ‘Scades 13-6 in the second half to improve to 5-0 and stay atop the South. Austin used seven straight scores spanning the two halves to beat Seattle 25-20, sending the Cascades back to the Pacific Northwest after a relatively disappointing 1-1 weekend.
“It feels like we had six solid quarters and then ran out of gas,” said Seattle Coach Casey Ikeda.
Garrett Martin had the most impressive individual statistical day on Sunday in Austin, with 10 scores and over 700 total yards, but the Cascades couldn’t stop the bleeding early in the third quarter. After trailing 18-14, Seattle inched back within one early in the fourth, but the Sol were clearly the fresher team down the stretch.
“I feel like as I’ve been on the team our goals with doubleheader road trips have significantly changed,” said Jack Brown, who’s been grinding with the Cascades since 2019. “It used to be, can we win a game? Then, it was let’s go all-in on beating the worse team and try to keep it competitive against the other. Now, we see doubleheaders as opportunities to jump the standings very quickly. While 1-1 isn’t bad from a make playoff standpoint, that isn’t something that we want to settle for. We want to host a playoff game.”
At 5-0, the Sol will finally play a game outside of Texas this Friday in San Diego, and Austin certainly understands that with just a single win over the Growlers—the two teams play each other twice in the next three weeks—the Sol will be well-positioned to host a playoff game in the South.
“I’m amped to play San Diego,” said Austin’s Kyle Henke. “Similar to us, I feel like they play with a lot of grit and emotion. I expect no shortage of big plays.”
7. Colorado And Salt Lake Keep Oregon Winless Out West
Colorado and Salt Lake will collide this Friday night in Utah, and they are both coming off a relatively routine win over the Oregon Steel.
On Friday, the Apex got Quinn Finer and Nanda Min-Fink back on the field together for the first time this season, and Colorado built an early lead and never trailed in their 24-21 victory.
“I’m finally back to feeling like myself for the first time since 2024,” said Finer, following his four-assist, one-goal, 638-total yards 2026 debut. “Definitely shaking off some rust and getting back into game shape. But those come with time.”
One day later, the Apex probably watched Salt Lake steamroll the Steel 34-17, as the Shred set a new franchise-high for goals in a game. With only four games in the first six weeks—and just one against a team with a winning record—Salt Lake knows that bigger tests are beckoning in June.
“I have no doubt of our team’s ceiling,” said Shred Head Coach Bryce Merrill. “But our turns per game and completion percentages have us mired in mediocrity thus far. We’ll know who we are come July 1st.”
The Hammer
Following the busiest weekend of the season—and correspondingly, the longest Tuesday Toss of the year—I’ll keep “The Hammer” brief.
Daan De Marrée landed in the United States on Monday. He’ll practice with the Empire for the first time on Wednesday, and on Friday, he’ll be on the field in Boston, ready to battle his countryman, Tobe Decraene, and the rest of the Glory.
After talking in depth to De Marree and Decraene about their personal history, rivalry, and determination last fall, this is truly the game that we’ve been waiting for, and it’ll be part of a jam-packed weekend of intense, emotional, meaningful ultimate.
I did not think we’d see someone throw 15 assists this past Friday, but now that we know that’s possible, I’m truly ready for anything.
